Also, they booed when she first said the name "Madeleine Albright," so, obviously, they don't support ALL women.

And I hadn't even thought about that fact that Cynthia McKinney was running in relation to this statement. If so, then everyone really should vote for her if they agree with Palin's use of the quote, because she would actually be president, not vice president, and really break the "hardest" glass ceiling, as Palin calls it. And she has a female VP as well, so you would be supporting two women.

And I love how Palin wonders how her comment will be misconstrued by the media. Like she doesn't know exactly what she meant when she said it. If people take her for her literal meaning, she can say, "oh I was just quoting, gosh darn media elites" "pew, pew"

Wait -- didn't the McCain camp decry sexism? Yet now I'm supposed to vote for McPalin simply because Palin and I share a chromosome? Unbelievable.

Palin recently mangled another quote in her closing statements during the debate. She gave a slightly garbled quote from Ronald Reagan about how, if we aren’t vigilant, we’ll end up “telling our children and our children’s children” about the days when America was free.

Kind of ironic, considering Reagan was arguing AGAINST legislation that would guarantee health care for older Americans — the program now known as Medicare. Even more ironic considering that the Wall Street Journal announced today that McCain would slash funding for Medicare and Medicaid.

The bizarre thing about Sarah Palin is that she has benefitted, and continues to benefit, from the struggles of the women who came before her--a decent education, the right to vote, the ability to run for and be elected to office--while fighting tooth and nail against the continuation of this progress. She quotes women and uses feminist rhetoric when it suits her, then tramples the spirit of feminism with a stupid line like, "The heels are on, the gloves are off." It is difficult to watch, and has only given me one more reason to support Barack Obama: I don't want to have to listen to four years of that kind of backhanded condemnation of women.

If ever a dissemble narrative needed to be disassembled, it'd be the notion that a woman candidate is automatically a women's candidate.

(quick hat tip to Ann & Miriam: Is Sarah Palin a Feminist? Friday Feminist Fuck NO. -- http://www.feministing.com/archives/011002.html)

Sarah Palin is on the wrong side of the issues that matter most to women in this country. In turn, Sarah Palin's views have been adopted into the Republican Party platform. History has illustrated that 2/3rds of a party's platform is implemented after their candidates are elected.

I have trouble believing she accidentally misquoted Albright.

First, because theres little chance that she generated that line on her own. If there is one thing that Sarah Palin is capable of, it's sticking to prepared remarks.

Secondly, because the selective replacement of a single word in the quote completely restructured the meaning in her favor.

Unless Governor Palin believes you can help/support women by doing them damage and restricting their individual liberty to a level of second class citizenship, SarahMC is spot on in her evaluation.

Finally, the crowd provided the greatest example of cognitive dissonance I've seen in some time. When Governor Palin mentioned Madeleine Albright's name, the crowd broke into an instantaneous chorus of boos (they've been trained over time who to perceive as an enemy -- Albright has ties to the Clinton administration, she has to be our enemy). This chorus of boos wasn't dissimilar to the reaction to the mention of Senator Clinton's name, the second (and the last) time Palin mentioned it on the stump. BUUUUUUUUUUUT, as soon as Palin misquoted Albright, the crowd loves her.

Cheers,
-SPiHC

p.s.- If you're not yet convinced that Sarah Palin is wrong for women on the issues, take a moment to contrast her with Senator Clinton -- www.SarahPalinISNTHillaryClinton.com

And stop getting her news from the back of Starbucks cups. Starbucks is for latte-sipping liberal elitists anyway.
Do you think she'd be familiar with any Supreme Court cases if they were posted on the back of Starbucks cups? Or in Snapple caps?

Palin's complete invulnerability to irony is astounding.

I only wish Palin could have reflect on the quote in a proper manner instead of just mis-quoting (and spinning) it. I'd love to hear her ideas about how a McCain-Palin presidency would help women. Because I sure haven't heard anything from their camp on the issue so far.

"Palin gets brain freeze in attempt to learn as much as she can from popsicle sticks."

Did anyone else feel like she was threatening us?

Gosh darn it Sarah!I would RATHER burn in hell than vote for you,but what you fail to realize is that since YOU have done little to "support" women in your career, YOU would be one of the first to go the hell you are are trying to create for others.

@ penny rose: YES!! I totally felt like the inner satan of Palin was comin' out and being like, "You damn feminist bitches, vote for me or ELSE!"

Also -- who was she winking at during the debate? Is it secret hell-code for, "I'll kill you all?" I heard she was having a lash malfunction, but I don't know.

Dear Ms. Palin,
Hell is only a threat for those who believe in it. That is all.
MoxieHart

Fuck. No.

Like, can someone please kill this whole joke already? At first it was funny to laugh at Palin, but knowing how many people take her words for face value without any further examination of what she's actually saying, makes me sick to my stomach.

Starbucks is for latte-sipping liberal elitists anyway.

This was the fucking first thing I thought when I read about this. I was like "wait a minute...isn't Starbucks a little elite for her? Shouldn't she be making her own coffee from mud pressed through a flannel shirt soaked in the blood of endangered animals or something?"

The more I see of this kind of thing, the more I have to conclude that anti-intellectualism is real.

Palin could have used quoting Albright as evidence that she's not such an ignoramus after all -- "See, I pay attention to what other women in American politics have to say" (never mind that a spin doctor probably found the quote for her). But no, she's afraid that her voter base might think that she's some kind of reader, hence the addendum about the Starbucks cup.

I suppose, also, that saying she read the quote on a Starbucks cup gives Palin a convenient excuse for not understanding how it fits in with Albright's views.

It's kind of a coincidence, I sent my mom an email last saying that there must be a special place in hell for a woman who allows women to be charged for their rape kits.

Not that I believe in hell.

I can't even stand looking at Palin at this point. There's no way she and McCain are getting elected, right? I mean, it's just not possible, is it?

I haven't liked Palin from the start but I can't put into words how much her statement pissed me off. At the very beginning she calls herself progressive - who is she kidding?

Here's the video if anyone wants to see it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/05/palin-misquotes-albright_n_131967.html?view=print

Direct message for Palin: Yes, you are a woman. Yes, I will defend your right to run for office, and your right to say all of these outrageous statements. But HELLS NO I won't vote for you, and that is MY right, as a woman and as a citizen of the U.S. And if hell-bound I am for that, what an atrocious world we live in!

I can't stand Palin. I really liked Madeleine Albright's response as quoted in the article linked by bianca:

"Though I am flattered that Governor Palin has chosen to cite me as a source of wisdom, what I said had nothing to do with politics. This is yet another example of McCain and Palin distorting the truth, and all the more reason to remember that this campaign is not about gender, it is about which candidate has an agenda that will improve the lives of all Americans, including women. The truth is, if you care about the status of women in our society and in our troubled economy, the best choice by far is Obama-Biden."

"There's a place in hell reserved for women who don't help other women."

Yeah Sarah, that's exactly where YOU are headed....if I had my way and if Hell was real.

Oh wait, THIS is Hell. It is real.

Somebody wake me when this is all over on 11/4 and this bitch goes back home. I am so fucking tired of this shit.

I'm Jewish, I don't believe in a hell, so I guess that makes me safe.

And actually, Starbucks is way too corporate for latte-sipping liberal elitists. We go for the mom-and-pop shops. They always taste better anyway.

Oh my god. How...HOW can she get away with that? If any liberal candidate made a joke about how you'll go to hell if you don't vote for him or her, the GOP would be all over that.

As if it couldn't be any worse, I found out today from my uncle that my father loves Palin.

Judith- it sucks that you had to find that out from your uncle.

Of course, there are those who take an extreme view on Madeline Albright's quote. I just got told from a friend that her original quote is just as terrible as Palin's misinterpretation of it since women should have the freedom to form their own allegiances. Riight.

Any snappy comebacks? I'm all ears.

It does NOT help our side to repeat lies. Palin as mayor and the town of Wasilla did NOT charge anyone for a rape kit. A rape kit is administered and processed at a hospital. When a woman was admitted to the hospital for treatment after a rape and a rape kit was administered AND she had insurance her insurance company was charged for the service and the kit just like the insurance was charged for all the other rape-related treatment.

If a woman did NOT have insurance she was not billed for the rape kit -- the city of Wasilla paid for it. But the woman was still charged for all the other treatment she rec'd at the hospital. For the record this is the same thing that happens in every major city according to NBC news. NYC, Chicago, Los Angeles..etc... etc.... all handle the charges for rape kits and rape kit processing the same way they do in Wasilla, Alaska. When we lie, we look dishonest even when the lie is told to try to help our cause.

ThinkingClearly,
I did not hear that Wasilla actually did charge for rape kits, but that Palin wanted to start. Can anyone give me a solid source with an answer on that? In my half-hearted searches I've found very little.

ThinkingClearly, charging rape kits to insurance is also wrong. You wouldn't like the town to bill your insurance company for the police to investigate a break-in, would you? Because that's what a rape kit is. It's not medical care. It's a humiliating and uncomfortable procedure that's used to collect forensic evidence.

According to factcheck Palin may or may not have known anything about the practice. How she couldn't have known about it is beyond me, she had been mayor for 4 yrs by that time. However, the police chief was in fact charging the victim and their insurance for the costs of the rape kit. He defended the practice because it took the burden off the tax payers. Later a bill was passed by the current governer making it illegal to charge women for any forensic testing.

Palin can click her red high heeled shoes together, while she winks at the camera, and declares she's not going to answer debate questions. One can almost feel the intelligence level drop each word she fails to pronounce the endin' to. She is in a world of her own. Palin wants to trash the planet for profit, and knowingly let a species, the Polar Bear become further endangered. She does not support Roe v Wade, and she is into creationism.
Palin could do some serious damage-- in the wink of an eye!

So women who voted for Reagan against Mondale, with his own quarter-century-before-Palin female VP/desperate gambit Geraldine Ferraro, went/will go to hell?

I can't even stand looking at Palin at this point. There's no way she and McCain are getting elected, right? I mean, it's just not possible, is it?
Posted by feminanimal | October 6, 2008 3:13 PM

It's very possible, although at the moment it doesn't seem very likely. This is going to be the dirtiest month in political history, though, so all bets are off.

To date no one has been able to find anyone in Wasilla that was ever charged for a 'rape kit' or indeed for any part of any rape investigation while Palin was mayor. Or later - while she was/is Gov. of Alaska. Not one person. Not even people with insurance.

This may mean bad record keeping.

It may mean sloppy investigating.

Or it may mean that this never happened.

But after all the investigation that has gone on I'm thinking it might be the last.

I'm all for attacking Palin's political positions, but this aura of 'facts, I don't need any facts' out in some parts of the bloggosphere is just making me feel the un-debate is ...icky and ignorant.

"All of us who consider ourselves progressive yetat thesametime we can be conservative..."

uuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh

To date no one has been able to find anyone in Wasilla that was ever charged for a 'rape kit' or indeed for any part of any rape investigation while Palin was mayor. Or later - while she was/is Gov. of Alaska. Not one person. Not even people with insurance.

If the policy was on the books, it doesn't matter. It's still a discriminatory and insulting policy. If no one was unlucky enough to get hurt by it in the brief period of time when SP was mayor of her very small town, that's good, but that doesn't make it okay.

"At first it was funny to laugh at Palin, but knowing how many people take her words for face value without any further examination of what she's actually saying, makes me sick to my stomach."

I agree. I recently discovered that a woman I (formerly) respected supports Palin because she believes that Obama is a Muslim terrorist. *headdesk* I can't begin to tell you how depressed that made me.

Annie M, not to mention that some women may have been deterred from reporting because they knew they couldn't afford to pay for the investigation. And what mschlegel said.

Oh, my. As one of very, VERY few teenagers in my high school that are in any way interested in politics, I doubt that there is another person my age that can relate to the disgust I feel toward Sarah Palin.

That woman truly does need to spend less time winking at the damn audience and more time actually answering some questions.

Though I doubt her statement applied to those who can not yet vote, I find it entertaining that her idea of "hellbound" is anyone who doesn't vote Republican. Its not everyday that someone manages to send every smart person to Hell in a day.